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context: poetry > ancient
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from a Heian copy of the Man'yoshu - note the flowing hiragana at either side, not in the original |
Man'yoshu
The Man'yoshu, The Collection of a Myriad Leaves, is the first extant Japanese poetry anthology, from around 759AD. It contains 4,516 poems, more by the possible compiler Otomo no Yakamochi than anyone else, but also including Kakinomoto Hitomato, Yamakochi and Yamanoue Okura. They are all written in Chinese symbols, each representing a Japanese syllable. At least some of the poems date back at least another century. Its wonderful love poems, especially verses of loss, are often stunning still. It's worth noting that this interest in loss and regret is not down to Zen aesthetics, as is sometimes assumed - the taste was there long before Zen came to Japan.